Impossible Things
by wellwithmysoul
Summary: When telling this story, I shall do as an old friend once told me:  I shall begin at the beginning and when I get to the end, I'll stop.  Alice returns to her Wonderland, only to find it vastly different than the place she remembers...
1. Chapter 1

One wonders how to begin a story such as this… I suppose I shall do as an old, dear friend once told me; I shall begin at the beginning, and when I get to the end, I'll stop.

Her name is Alice Kingsley.

A particularly known name in this day - a name associated with many lovely words: Fearless, Groundbreaking, Adventurous.

However, as names go, there are a great many un-lovely names heard alongside it as well: Audacious, Capricious, Ruthless, Headstrong.

Many, truly most good people in society were quite scandalized over the co-owner of Ascot & Kingsley Trading Co. In scathing, whispered rumors they spoke of many Impossible things:

_Impossible,_ they declared it, for the fairer sex to sail the open seas with such careless abandon.

_Impossible_, she cannot fight alongside the crew against Indian and Chinese pirates.

_Impossible_, the impudence of the young lady, laying out a new trading policy, declaring fair trade for all the workers involved.

_Impossible_, for her to succeed in establishing such successful trading company in just thirteen years; especially after her treasonous declarations against Britain, declaring it's treatment of the Chinese to be imperialistic and brutal.

_Impossible_, that a woman should be so cold and unkind as to never return home once since the passing of her mother, even at the constant request of her sister.

_Impossible_, for her to live alone in Peking, unmarried, among such savages; indeed she must be savage herself.

"I've heard she is quite mad." The whispers whispered. "Well she must be. I've heard she weeps and weeps at night, like some sort of spirit. They say, she lives all alone in an old temple with nothing but cats for company! They say, she always has a faraway look in her eyes, as though her body is here but the rest of her – "

"Is in a far off place." The gentle sound of Lord Ascot's voice broke through Alice's thoughts. She turned away from the cold glass window and smiled at him.

"Richard." She went to him and embraced the older gentlemen. He kissed her fatherly upon the forehead.

"Still lost in daydreams I see." He said fondly, holding her out at arms length to look at her. "Has it really been two years since I saw you last? I believe you are more beautiful than ever. I must say these Chinese wardrobes do suit you most becomingly." Alice smoothed her hands over the white and silver silk tunic.

"I'm glad you are finally here, you look rested from your journey. Was the trip pleasant? How is everyone back in London? " Alice said cordially, showing Richard to a comfortable chair and settling in next to him as they were served their tea. "Thank you Lian." She dismissed the older Chinese woman.

"Back home you mean." He said. Alice paused.

"It is not my home, Richard. Not anymore." Alice sipped her tea, keeping her gaze averted from him. The gentlemen sighed.

"Lady Ascot is well, if only more disagreeable with age." He chuckled. "Hamish and Elizabeth are doing a fine job of spending my money and the little one looks more like her mother every day, praise the Lord for that." Alice laughed heartily at that. Poor Hamish, ever the butt of their jokes.

"Did you speak to Hamish again about the company?"

"Yes, quite a bit actually. His intent is clear, he has no interest in trade whatsoever." Lord Ascot rubbed his tired eyes. "It is a shame really." He reached for Alice's hand and squeezed it reassuringly. "I thank God daily for sending me you." He smiled as Alice's faltered.

"The good tied in with the bad I suppose" She knew the strain her reputation put on Lord Ascot and his family back in London society. Holed away in China, Alice was able to abstain from the majority of whispers and curious looks from the British living there; indeed she did not care what people thought of her personally, but she did care how it affected others.

"People love their rumors. You know, this time I was asked if you did indeed write letters to Chinese gods asking for their favor for hours on end." He laughed and Alice giggled. "Speaking of, how is your manuscript coming? Still won't let me have a look at it? I know you let Lian read it." Alice glanced at him sideways. "That wounds me Alice dear."

"It is finished." She said, looking over at the stacks of paper on her writing desk. His bushy eyebrows shot upward. "And should I ever up and disappear some day, my words are yours to devour as hungrily as you wish… but not until then." Her voice, indeed her face softened as she spoke, both tainted with a familiar look of longing. He took her hand in his soft and wrinkled one again and met her gaze.

"You and your riddles." He smiled lovingly. "I shall wait with bated breath. The Adventures of Alice Kingsley! Such a story it must be."

"You haven't the slightest idea." She teased gently.

They settled into a few moments of comfortable silence, listening to the sound of the fire crackling in the hearth. A shuffling sound from atop one of the many bookshelves drew their attention and they looked to watch a grand white cat with a black mask jump down and stretch languidly, it's pink mouth stretching out into a great yawn. It sauntered its way over to Alice's writing desk and rubbed its whiskers against the raven's claw that shaped the foot, it's dark tail swishing this way and that.

"And who might this be?" Asked Lord Ascot. The cat stopped rubbing and hopped atop the desk, perching itself on the middle stack of papers, observing Lord Ascot steadily with bright blue eyes.

"I am not sure." Alice said. "He followed me home from the palace ruins a few weeks ago after the Winter Solstice Festival. He is decidedly strange, as most Siamese are. I have been calling him Luna because he reminds me of the winter moon."

"All rumors grow from a grain of truth." Richard teased. "Cats do seem unnaturally attracted to you."

"Kindred spirits." She said, still looking at Luna. "They understand me."

After a pause, Richard stated very carefully, "Margaret was asking about you, Alice. She misses you dreadfully."

"Richard…" Alice warned but the old man shook his head adamantly.

"No Alice, now you listen to me. She is your sister – indeed she is the only family you have left now that Imogene has passed on, God rest her. You are two and thirty Alice, and six years since your Mother passed! It is high time you leave the old things behind." Alice's frown deepened and she looked away childishly. He pulled a small bundle of letters from inside it breast pocket. "From Margaret and Little Lowell. He's twelve years old now you know, a bright, strapping young lad who soaks up every word I say about the Orient and Trade. He'll make a fine apprentice soon. That is, if his mother can bear letting another go. And little Helen just turned four – Alice you really should be ashamed you've never even laid eyes on your own niece."

"Margaret made it very clear to me how she feels about the lifestyle I've chosen. I hardly see her letting her child make the same so-called mistake." Alice retorted.

"Please read the letters Alice." Richard made to hand them to her but she kept her arms firmly crossed over her breast. Richard resigned and tucked them back in his pocket as he stood. "I'd best be going, I've an engagement in town this afternoon. I'll see you for supper? "

Alice refused to meet his eye, but nodded in agreement. Lian appeared in the doorway to escort Lord Ascot out, leaving Alice curled up in her chair, staring into the fire. The irritable flicking of a black tail caught her eye and she met the azure gaze of the cat still perched on her desk. "What are you looking at?" She said crossly. Luna sneezed distastefully and began licking his large dark paw. Alice, thoroughly agitated, stood and paced near the fire until the door slid open again. Lian slipped in and paused, studying Alice. "I don't want to hear it from you too." Alice said, still pacing.

"Lord Ascot loves you like a daughter. He just wants what is best." The older Chinese woman said softly, hear English heavily accented as she gracefully began to clear away the tea.

Alice stopped pacing and leaned her forehead against the hearth. "How can anyone else know what is best for my life other than the one who has lived it." She whispered.

Lian came to her then, rubbing a soft hand on her back. "Ms. Alice." She said tenderly, "Hiding away from this world will not bring you any closer to the other." She gave Alice's shoulder a gentle squeeze before leaving her.

Alice closed her eyes against the familiar tears threatening to fall. She shook her head violently, her golden curls flying wildly about her, and pounded her fist against the mantle. "No more tears!" She told herself aloud.

A drawn out "meow" replied from behind her. Alice turned around and met Luna's gaze staring at her with eyes burning like the fire, sitting atop the parcel of letters Lian left on her chair. Alice sighed heavily. "Even you are against me." She told the cat, who stared at her unwaveringly.

It was late in the day when Alice finally finished reading the letters. She rubbed a hand across one red and swollen eye as she leaned back deeper into her chair. "Margaret…" She whispered, clutching the letters to her chest. In a moment she stood, her joints popping from sitting in one attitude for such a long time. Her body ached, exhausted from the gauntlet of emotions assailing her that day. She moved to her writing desk where Luna lay curled up asleep on top of the first stack of papers.

"Alice's Adventures in Wonderland." She whispered, fingering the corner of the papers under Luna. She touched the next stack. "Through the Looking Glass." She said, a little wistful smile curving on her lips. Sitting down at the desk, she laid her head down on the final stack. "To Wonderland and Back Again." She sighed. Her eyes came to rest on the pieces of blank paper littering the desk, and her ink quill. Alice sat up, resolved, picked up the quill and began to write.

_Margaret,_

_My only wish is that you could understand. I wish father were still here, and mother. I wish things could be as simple as they were before. I wish for so many impossible things, sister. I have come to realize that impossible things are, sometimes, actually impossible, no matter how hard you believe in them. But I have always loved you Meg and I'm sorry for the pain I have caused you, my sister…_

Rubbing her eyes, smearing a bit of ink on her cheek, Alice put down her quill and rose from the desk. "Some fresh winter air is what I need." She said aloud to the empty room. She slipped on an alice-blue velvet coat, lined with white fur and drew the hood up around her head, buttoned up the white bone buttons and tugged on her boots before slipping out the study door, which led to a garden path.

By this time the new moon had just risen, illuminating the snow covered pathway – and Luna, who sat on a round stone near the garden gate.

"You look like a ghost out here." Alice whispered as she drew near him. "Sometimes I wonder." Luna hopped down from the stone and ran a little ways down the path before turning and looking back at her. "Am I to follow you?" Alice wondered aloud. The cat turned round and continued down the path and Alice followed. "Perhaps I have gone mad Margaret." She quickened her step to keep up with the Siamese. Luna waited for her around each corner, keeping just far enough away yet still in sight. "This is strangely familiar." Alice tittered, "But where is the watch and the waistcoat?" She did, indeed, feel slightly out of her mind.

Six years earlier, Alice returned to England upon receiving the news of her mother's battle with pneumonia. She was only there for thirteen days before her mother left this world to be with her husband. Her death was peaceful but no less heartbreaking to the daughters she left behind.

The loss of her dear mother took a terrible toll on Alice. Hours after her funeral, she slipped away to her father's study seeking the looking glass, _her _looking glass. With a pounding heart she pressed her hands against it – only to find it solid and cold beneath her fingers. She took her hands away and tried again and again; but the looking glass remained just that - a looking glass, reflecting her own pale, wild eyed, panic-stricken and tear-stained face. She closed her eyes and pressed her forehead against the glass, wishing with all her muchness for the glass to give way… when suddenly the glass did give way - shattering under her touch. The pieces seemed to fall around her slowly, mockingly, each piece reflecting such brightness that could never be found in London. Horrified, Alice stole Lowell's horse and fled the house that very moment – people who caught a glimpse of her shining blonde hair and heavy black dress upon his great grey mare thought her a ghost.

Through the darkness she rode to the Ascot estate, searching frantically for the rabbit hole to take her away from her pain. It was Lord Ascot and Margaret who found her late the next day, soaked and black with mud beneath a withered and twisted oak tree. She clung weeping to the tree when they tried to take her away, screaming about a lost place called Wonderland. When they finally managed to get her to Margaret's home, Lowell convinced her to call a doctor. It wounded Alice deep in the pieces of her heart that her sister refused to believe her and thought she had fallen to madness. She fought viciously with Margaret, who cried and cried and said she was only trying to help. She begged Alice to stay in London and settle down, to become a right and proper lady. Alice refused to see the doctor and refused to stay; instead she boarded one of her company's ships bound for the Orient, never to look back. Lord Ascot sent her papers while she was in India to sign approving the sale of their family home in London to the very doctor they called to treat her. As the ink dried on paper she left everything in London behind.

Until today, never a tear she cried for her family or her former home.

But oh, the tears she cried for Underland. Bitter hours of the night she spent weeping, aching, longing for her true home and the dear one's she left behind. The rabbit hole gone, the looking glass inexplicably shattered in her father's den. Underland, her Wonderland, rejected her. She would never return. Alice finally believed in the probability of impossibility.

Until tonight. Her breath grew more ragged, escaping her lips in tiny moonlit puffs of fog. Her heart pounded in her chest and her blood seemed to prickle and poke in her veins. "Luna! Wait!" She cried as she ran, no longer bothering to be quiet. The white cat waited for her at what was once the southern entrance to the Old Southern Palace, into what was once The Garden of Eternal Spring that now lay in ruins. He flicked his tail this way and that impatiently as she approached, his blue eyes glowing with the blueness of another world. The creature disappeared around the corner of a crumbling stone wall. "Wait!" Alice cried again as she ran around the edge of the wall. Silence answered her. Luna disappeared as a puff of smoke. "Or a ghost…" Alice whispered, shivering against the cold. The snow glistened brilliantly like diamonds in the moonlight; beneath it she could just make out the shape of the ruins. "It's the Haiyantang Clock Fountain." She whispered. "Or rather, what's left of it." She made her way over to the remains of the once ornate fountain; the sound of her steps crunching in the fresh snow seemed to echo in the night. Alice kneeled down by the frozen pool, next to the ruins of elaborate filigree work. Her shaking hand reached out and brushed the fresh snow from the ice, the cold biting hard into her bare skin. With bated breath she leaned out over the pool, hoping for something _magical_.

Ice. Nothing but ice and her own ghostly reflection upon it. A sob escaped her lips as she let go of her breath. She felt hot tears welling up in her eyes and spilling over, running down her frozen cheeks and freezing to the ice below. She pressed her frozen hands to her face as she wept.

As her sobbing finally began to abate, Alice became aware of a sound, like a tiny popping or tinging. "No" she whispered "Like little drops dripping." Her eyes fell back on the fountain and a gasp escaped her lungs. The ice had thawed! The water in the pond rippled and rolled as the raindrops fell upon it. "Raindrops?" Alice asked aloud. She looked to the clear sky and the cold winter moon. Her heart raced in her chest again and she leaned forward over the fountain. A silver light radiated behind the rippling drops and Alice could make out the fine shape of thin, purpleish leaves. "Trees!" She gasped. "Underland!"

"Ms Alice!" A woman's voice called to her and Alice jumped at the sound. "Ms Alice!" The voice called again from somewhere behind her. Alice looked back at the water, beaming.

"Alice!" This time a man's voice, older and genteel. Lord Ascot and Lian stumbled around the crumbled garden wall just in time to see a figure with unruly blond hair fall into the fountain ruins with a splash. "Alice!" Richard's voice was panicked and her two elderly friends bustled up to the fountain as fast as they could…

Only to find it frozen solid, reflecting their lantern light and covered with a layer of fresh snow in which a set of cat prints could still be seen…


	2. Chapter 2

a/n – I do not own Anything Alice.

There's a funny thing about water - even the magical sort is quite wet. Alice burst through the other side of the reflecting pool with a great splash and gasping for breath. She slopped and swished her way to the bank, clawing up the gradual gravelly slope and flopped on her back on dry land. A permanent, Chess-like grin refused to budge from her lips and she giggled like a little girl, splashing and kicking her feet that still remained in the water. Soaked through, exhausted and elated, she let out a little yell - "I'm back!"

Tiny, warm water drops dripped onto to her face from the extensive, wispy lavender leaves of the trees above her – Trees so thick she could not tell whether it was daylight or dark yet glowed with a luminescence all their own. She opened her mouth like a child, tasting the drops on her tongue. "Salty!" She said, making a face. "Oh, _weeping willows,_ naturally!" She giggled again. "I sound as mad as a…" The sudden thought of her friend made her leap to her feet "Hatter!" She cried out as she followed the crunchy gravel path out of the wood. The willows soon gave way to an overgrown hedgerow. Alice pushed her way through though the thorny branches pulled and pricked at her heavy coat. Finally, she emerged on the other side, stumbling into beautiful, crisp afternoon sunlight and a magnificently kept hedge maze. "I must be at the white castle!" She said and turned circles, hopping, trying to see above the hedges. Sure enough, the towering white spikes of the castle could be seen quite close and beautiful waterfalls framing it in the distance. Alice set out in the maze, hitting several dead ends but continued onward, using the castle to keep her in the right direction. Before long she could hear the sounds of laughing and conversation and also the scratchy warble of a gramophone. "A tea party!" She laughed, "It must be! Perhaps the oraculum foretold my return!" Her pace quickened in to a run. "Oh I do hope Thackeray hasn't destroyed all the china yet!" Her wet, heavy coat drug the ground, tangling around her legs as she ran and her hood fell, sending her knotted mass of hair flying about her. None of it mattered, all she could think of was her friends waiting for her return just beyond the hedge.

Finally she reached the end of the maze that opened up into a formal garden shaped by rows of symmetrical low growing hedges and well-trimmed, bright green grass. The gravel path took her to a small white gazebo overlooking another sunken garden area. Below indeed was an outdoor tea party; twenty ladies and gentlemen milled about, some carrying parasols, others engaged in a game of lawn bowling. The ladies, crimped, cinched and coiffed wore bell shaped gowns in shades of demure blue, grey and white. The gentlemen all wearing fashionable walking suits in drab brown and tans, puffed and paraded for the ladies like old tom turkeys. "Curious…" Alice whispered. Her heart pounded in her throat as she gathered up the hem of her wet coat and descended down the marble steps to the garden. By this time many of the party noticed Alice and gasped, quite taken back by dripping woman in the soiled blue velvet coat that, now unbuttoned, revealed her wet and clingy silk tunic and pants. Her shock of blonde hair stuck to her ruddy pink cheeks like golden seaweed. Alice floated into the midst of them as though in a dream, when a large silk top hat and Scottish brogue made her snap attention.

"Hatter!" She cried joyously, taking the young man by they shoulder and turning him around. Striking hazel green eyes met hers. Tousled, auburn hair framed his face below the hat. Hollow cheeks, rather pale skin and striking features marked his decidedly handsome yet decidedly _normal_ face. He smiled somewhat uneasily, revealing an endearing gap between his front teeth. "Are you alright Miss?" He said, visibly concerned. "Oh my you are soaked to the bone!" Alice could feel herself begin to quiver on the inside.

"T-Tarrant?" She managed to sputter. The man's brow furrowed.

"I'm sorry, have we met before?" He asked. Suddenly, Alice felt as though the moon descended from the heavens and landed in squarely her gut. For the first time in a very long time, Alice fainted, landing in Tarrance Hightopp's outstretched arms.


	3. Chapter 3

Thanks for all the reviews and story alerts! And of course his name is Tarrant – my brain knows this but my fingers just keep typing Terrance, ridiculous things. Apologies!

Alice dreamed of a pink marble ballroom filled to the brim with white lady rabbits dressed in green evening gowns; puckered and puffed, whiskers and ears, frills and lace as far as the eye could see. Dream Alice watched them perched from the ceiling as they simpered and prissed, twitching their noses with counterfeit coyness. Finally, an older, quite busty rabbit noticed her on the ceiling. The Lady Rabbit held a gold-rimmed monocle up to one eye, her nose twitching agitatedly.

"Who are you?" She rumbled, her voice not at all what one would think should come from a white rabbit. The other Lady Rabbits stopped what they were doing, ears and noses perked up towards Dream Alice, a veritable sea of twitching whiskers twitched at her.

"I said, whooo arrrre yoou?" The imposing Lady Rabbit rumbled again. Alice put her hands on her hips, looking down audaciously.

"I'm Alice of course, you nitwit." She sneered back. The Lady gasped and dropped her monocle. Slowly it drifted to the ground like a great golden teardrop until it finally hit the ground with a resounding _crack_! As the pieces of glass scattered about the room, white rabbits shrunk out of their extravagant gowns and hopped out from beneath them, filling the room...

Alice woke with a start, sitting up so quickly she instantly became lightheaded and flopped back on the pillow, hands in her eyes.

"She's awake! Such a strange creature." A familiar voice spoke.

"Mally?" Alice said hopefully, opening her eyes expectantly and looking to her left to the source of the voice. A plump, middle-aged woman sat next to her bed, dressed in tan with a white cap. She watched over Alice with an air of mistrust and her wide, dark eyes widened even more.

"Just how do you know my name, Missy?" She leaned forward, her thick mousey brown braid falling over her shoulder and tickling Alice's nose.

"You're Mallympkins?" Alice said, rubbing her nose and swatting the braid away. The woman nodded, quite beffudled. Alice studied her very human face with concern. "You don't recognize me?" She finally asked.

"Should I? Are you someone worth remembering?" Mally said sarcastically, somewhat put off by Alice's forwardness and manner of address.

"Oh for heaven's sake!" Alice threw her arms up over her eyes in frustration. "You would be like that." She grumbled.

There was a knock at the door, and a smallish, rather pinched looking man with curly black hair and wearing a blue waistcoat entered. He fidgeted nervously at the door for a moment, pulling absently on his left earlobe before speaking, all the while glancing sideways at Alice.

"Ahem." He cleared his throat. "Her Majesty requests the lady's presence in the drawing room, when she feels able."

Alice met his sideways look and gave him her own. "McTwisp." She acknowledged him - cordially, though thoroughly annoyed. He quite literally jumped with surprise and looked at Mally questioningly. The older woman shrugged and gave Alice's bedclothes an impatient tug.

"You heard him, Missy, up you go. Best not leave the Queen waiting."

"My name is Alice, Mally." She grumped and rolled over, burying her head in the pillow and wishing with all her might that this time it really were a dream.

"Well then Ms. Alice," Mally said with mock cordiality. "No matter who you are, _no one_ ought to be in bed at this hour of the day." Cruelty knew no bounds with the former mouse and she jerked the bedclothes from the bed, leaving Alice exposed to the all world for its derision. McTwisp made a strangled noise from the doorway and hurried out of the room before a fainting spell could befall him.

"I liked you better as a mouse!" She gasped at the sudden chill and glared at Mally, who tossed Alice's own clothes on the bed in front of her

"There's your clothes, indecent though they may be!" She huffed. "Mouse indeed. Half mad you are!"

A scratching noise at the door distracted her for a moment while Alice slipped on her silk pants and tunic. Mally opened the heavy wooden door and Luna pranced inside, leaping up on Alice's bed. He was wearing a little blue collar with a bell that tinkled as he moved.

"Luna!" Alice said, leaning back on the bed. "Where have you been? Where did you get that collar?"

"Is that _your_ cat?" Mally sniffed, half standing in the doorway. "The devil's creatures, they are!"

"Indeed!" Alice agreed, grabbing the cat roughly by the scruff of his neck and bringing his face close to hers. "Worthless feline! You've brought me to the wrong Underland!" Luna squirmed his way free and fell back to the bed.

"Yowl!" He said defensively and proceeded to lick at one paw pitifully.

"Not half mad" Mally said, eyeing Alice with heightened suspicion. "You're right barmy, you are! I'll be keeping an eye on you Missy!"

"Shoo!" Alice waved her hand at the woman as though she were still just a tiny dormouse and Mally slammed the door behind her with a grunt.

"Ugh!" Alice groaned and flung herself back on the bed face first. "What the devil am I to do now." She mumbled into the mattress.

"Meow!" Luna offered. Alice turned her face towards him and stuck out her tongue.

"I've nothing to say to you." Alice sniffed. "It's what I deserve I suppose for following a white cat instead of a white rabbit – a dreadfully proper Underland."

"Meow." Luna said defensively and hopped from the bed and pranced to the door, his little bell tinkling as he went.

Alice stared at him from the bed and heaved a great sigh.

"Oh you're right. I guess we shan't keep Her Majesty waiting."

Human McTwisp silently ushered Alice to an elegant drawing room which Alice remembered visiting before. The great white marble pillars shaped like pawns looked curious against the many ladies-in-waiting that drifted about the room. All eyes turned to scrutinize Alice when she entered. McTwisp lead her to a tall, elegant white wingback chair that faced away from the room and towards a great window overlooking the waterfalls in the distance. He motioned for Alice to wait as he went around to announce her.

"Your Majesty, Alice Kingsley… and …her cat." He said uncomfortably. Alice held her breath as she came around the great wingback chair to face the Queen – a breath that soon gasped from her lips when she set her eyes on her. Her Majesty's corn silk blonde hair was coiffed severely at the back of her head, besides the meticulously formed curls draped over her ears, intertwined with tiny seed pearls. Though her skin seemed pale it was not unnaturally so, but her large dark eyes were the same as Alice remembered them – only lacking a certain depth of feeling that once brightened them. Her pale pink lips pursed into an easy smile as she looked at Alice, with her hands folded demurely in her lap. Alice curtsied politely, and took the seat which McTwisp brought up for her and placed facing the Queen.

Once Alice was properly seated and presented a very ordinary cup of tea, the Queen addressed her. "It seems you know us, Ms Kingsley, but unfortunately we can not speak the same for you. Perhaps," She said softly "You may enlighten us. I do so love light." She pursed her lips once more and looked at Alice expectantly, much like a teacher waiting to hear one recite; reminding Alice that though they may appear the same age, the White Queen was indeed ageless.

Alice looked to Luna for assistance but he sat in the window, ignoring the room completely and being of no help whatsoever. Alice cleared her throat. "Yes, Your Majesty…" she began, "You see, I visited Underland many years ago, as a small child. I was only here a short time yet… I grew so fond of this place and have such splendid memories of your Kingdom. That you would not remember one small girl from many years ago is quite logical."

"Yes! Logical indeed!" The Queen perked up, and the room echoed the word like trained parrots. "Logical!" "Yes quite logical!" They said, nodding in agreement. Alice looked at Luna in the window, who was looking back at her with a gleam in his sapphire eyes.

"Please forgive my forwardness, Your Majesty." Alice continued, shifting uncomfortably. "I let myself be somewhat …overcome with excitement at my return."

"Yes your return is peculiar indeed." Interjected a severe looking young woman seated to the Queen's left. "Pray, just how did you become so wet?"

"Rainstorm." Came Alice's quick retort. "And I've no umbrella."

"Indeed, you've no luggage at all. " She quipped. "And a woman your age traveling alone? Highly extraordinary…"

"Please Aylesa," The Queen interrupted gently. "I am certain Ms Kingsley has a perfectly logical reason for her remarkable arrival here." The room echoed it's logical sentiments after her. "However," she turned her dark eyes back to Alice, "the good Doctor arrives tomorrow and as always we shall rely on his excellent judgment and understanding to sort things out." Smiles floated around the room, landing on the unfamiliar faces like little pink moths. "For the time being, Ms. Kinglsey, you are my guest and I count on you to make yourself at home here. I expect you are still quite tired from your …journey…" The Queen said delicately, looking out the window as she spoke. "You shall dine with us this evening, yes?"

"Yes, Your Majesty." Alice replied, taking the hint, she set down her untouched tea, rose and curtsied again before allowing McTwisp to escort her from the room. Luna, by the jingle of his little bell, followed close behind.

Surprisingly, a figure wearing a grand top hat waited for them just outside the door.

"Good morning." Tarrant said, slightly bowing to Alice. "Mr. McTwisp, would you be so kind as to allow me to escort our guest to her room?" Alice's heart quickened, the slight brogue in his voice stirring up her sentiments. McTwisp looked to Alice for her reply and she nodded her head in acknowledgement. McTwisp cast a curious glance at Tarrant before leaving them. Alice found herself holding her breath as Tarrant offered her his arm, which she took. He started in the direction of her quarters but she stopped him.

"You know, I really do not desire to return to my room just yet." Trying to keep the anxiousness from her voice proved harder than she thought, "It is such a lovely day out, might we take a turn about the palace grounds?" She said quickly, offering him a smile.

"But of course." He agreed, inclining his head towards her and they turned instead down the great hall towards the palace entrance.

"Forgive my informality, my lady." He burst forth after they walked for a moment in uncomfortable silence. He continued, clearing his throat uncomfortably, "I know this is very untoward, but I simply can not let it rest. Indeed, I reflected upon it throughout the night, pondering on fact that, yesterday, it appeared you knew me so well…" He took a breath, his cheeks coloring with a slight blush, "Ms Kingsley I am deeply ashamed to say I have not the slightest recollection of you."

Alice's stomach dropped as though she were tumbling down a dark rabbit hole once again, though somehow she managed to keep a calm façade. Tarrant made a careful study of her face as they walked and she (every bit as carefully) avoided his wandering eye. After a moment of mustering her muchness she managed a halfhearted smile.

"It is quite alright, Mr. Hightopp, I take no offence. As I was just explaining to Her Majesty, I visited Underland when I was a very young girl. I certainly should have never expected all of you to remember a little girl from so many years past. I apologize for my hasty behavior, and for the strain it put upon you."

"I see... And we became friends then?" He prodded.

"I like to think so." She said, a bit more wistfully than she intended to betray. They emerged from the grand doors of the palace onto the landing, the morning sun beaming down happily upon them spreading warmth upon her face in the crisp air.

Tarrant stopped, hesitated, and then turned to face her, releasing her arm, forcing Alice to observe him. Yes, a decidedly handsome face. Light skin with striking features, beautiful hazel eyes – an attractive Hatter contender. He pursed his mouth and Alice found herself quite unable to hide a smile.

"Do I amuse you?" He asked, the corner of his lip quirking up just so. Alice felt a slight blush creep up on her cheeks.

"It's the way you hold your mouth when you are thinking – it's just as I remember you doing." His smile fell and he looked hard at her.

"I said before that I have no recollection of you." He spoke in a serious, low voice. "That is, I have no _specific_ memory of you. Yet everything about you is so _very_ familiar; your golden curls, even the blue of your coat." He leaned closer; his cheek edging close to hers and Alice felt herself again holding her breath. "In fact… you have become like a favorite riddle to me, Ms Kingsley, which I once knew the answer to but have since forgotten. It vexes me." His breath whispered across her cheek and she felt her pulse race under her skin. Tarrant leaned away from her blinking and shook his head a bit, as one does when clearing a foggy mind. He pulled back further from Alice, tugging slightly at his starched white collar. "Forgive me, Ms Kingsley." He said, suddenly embarrassed. "I am not sure what came over me. I assure you I have but the most honorable of intentions." He was quite baffled, and through her disappointment Alice felt sorry for him. She took his arm again.

"I do not doubt that, Mr. Hightopp." She said as they walked on. "Not for a moment." Beside her, the forgotten Luna yowled agitatedly.

"Hush you." Alice hissed, waving a hand at him. The cat turned his backside to her and flicked his tail at her crossly.

"Yes well, the Doctor shall arrive tomorrow. I'm certain he will be able to sort things out." Tarrant said and though his voice was hopeful, a shadow seemed to pass silently over his face.

"Now that you mention it, I do not recall any Doctor," Alice started. "I'm quite curious about him-" She was suddenly cut off by an ear-shattering wailing coming from the garden just beyond the trees and a hasty shushing sound by a familiar voice.

"Hush now Deetrich!" Mallyumpkins said as they rounded the corner.

"The twins giving you trouble again Mally?" Tarrant teased the older woman genially. She pushed an ornate black baby carriage down the garden path with two very plump toddlers wearing stripes lolling about inside, one waving a wooden sword and the other wailing, waving his arms for it.

"I do not find it very funny!" She told Tarrant. She reached in and took the sword away, "Dumlie! You must to learn to share, child!" She looked up then and gave Alice the side eye. "Ms. Kingsley." She said coldly.

Alice did not reply because she was at that moment transfixed by the toddlers, a worrisome frown etching her face. The twins too had stopped their fighting and were now staring open mouthed at her.

"Tweedles…" She murmured. Tarrant and Mally exchanged a look and the twins began to laugh, waving their arms for Alice to pick them up.

"You know the Queen's favorite nephews, do you?" Mally said accusingly. "Don't think they were around when you were a little girl." Alice gaped at her, flustered.

Luckily, it was Luna who saved her by jumping up on the carriage and startling Mally. "Oi! Get off there you great white nuisance!" She cried. One of the twins squealed and jerked on Luna's tail.

"Yeowl!" The cat screeched and swatted the fat baby, who let out a curdling wail in reply as to which his brother decided to match for no other reason than it seemed the thing to do.

"Now see what you've done!" Mally growled, shaking a finger at Alice. Tarrant looked on helplessly.

"I really should be going." Alice told him and scooped up Luna, "I can find my own way back!" She cried and hurried back down the path.

When they were out of eyesight Alice let out a heavy sigh and scratched Luna under the chin. "Thank you for that." She said. "I've got to be more careful, I think." Luna rubbed his forehead under her chin. "What in the world is going on around here?" Alice wondered aloud.

That evening Alice took a cold dinner in her room, claiming to be too tired to join the dining table. The Queen sent her regrets and also told McTwisp to inform Alice that tomorrow evening they would be holding an informal, private ball in celebration of the Doctor's return and requested Alice to join them. She also sent word that if Alice were to look in her wardrobe; it contained many dresses that she dearly hoped would be suitable to her liking.

Of course none were. Whites and dove grays, flounces and starched lace complete with accursed petticoats, bustles and corsets. Alice made a face and sunk down on the cushioned window seat next to Luna who licked his paws clean after sharing Alice's dinner. She pulled up her legs and wrapped her arms around them, leaning her head against the cool glass window. The moon hung low and bright, reflecting beautifully off the waterfalls in the distance. "I'm so very tired of riddles, Luna." Alice said softly. "I've dreamed of returning for so long…" The cat stopped licking and rubbed his hand on her head. She folded her legs and put him in her lap, comforted by his warmth. "I had forgotten what joy really felt like until the moment I came through the fountain. Now I feel like a child who just discovered their favorite magic is nothing but a well played trick." A tear slipped down her cheek. "What are we to do?" She whispered.

Suddenly Luna jumped from her lap and ran to the heavy oak door, pawing at it insistently. Alice watched him for a moment from the window seat. "What now?" She wondered before slipping on her coat and opening the door for him. The long white marble hall was dark and silent as a tomb as they crept out of the palace towards the moonlit hedge maze beyond the sunken gardens. Luna directed Alice through the maze, never taking a wrong turn until they reached a dead end - where he slipped into the hedges and disappeared.

"What is this, strange kitty? You're not taking me back, are you?" Alice said doubtfully. She pushed her way into the prickly hedge that tugged at her coat and pulled painfully at her hair. Finally she emerged on the other side and the hedges cleared into a gravel path lined with the sweeping branches of the weeping willows. Fireflies danced in the air by the millions, their light reflecting off the teardrops and casting a inviting glow about the garden. A few of them came to hover near her and Alice discovered they were indeed _fire_flies – a tiny flame flickered behind each one's wings, alternately purple and silver. Led by their warm light Alice followed the path back to the pool from which she first emerged - where she found it was not a pool at all, but a vast lake stretching out into darkness, fading into blackness beyond the glow of the willows and the fireflies. "Goodness…" Alice whispered, suddenly feeling quite small and alone. To her right, unnoticed before, was a small gazebo covered with large, silver leafed vines containing a plum colored cushioned bench. "I'm sure that was not there before." She said, and unexpectedly someone answered her.

"It wasn't needed then, of course." Came a familiar voice from within.

"Absolem?" Alice cried, scarcely believing her ears. She ran to the gazebo and peered inside. Perched upon one of the silver leaves in all his brilliant blue glory sat Absolem, surrounded in a wispy cloud of smoke. "Oh Absolem!" Alice cried. "I am ever so happy to see you!" She wished more than anything she could hug the little insect. "Were you Luna this whole time? I suspected it, because of the blue eyes." She asked, beaming at him.

"Hardly." He scoffed, and Alice felt a sudden weight around her shoulders.

"Chess!" She exclaimed.

"At your service," He purred, disappearing and reappearing in the air above her, rolling upside down as he flickered his stripes. "It is good to be back to myself again. I find it ever so boring being a solid creature."

"Tell me, what has happened to Underland?" Alice demanded, looking back to Absolem. "Why is it you two are unaffected? Why was I unable to return for so long?"

"Calm down, stupid girl." Absolem puffed in her face. Alice swatted away the smoke and coughed.

"I'm not a girl anymore Absolem." Alice pointed out.

"Indeed, but you are still stupid." He said, looking away. Alice rolled her eyes exasperated.

"To answer your last question first," Chess said, lolling around Alice's head, "You return to Underland when Underland decides it is Time for you to return to It."

"Very well." Alice agreed unhappily. "But what has happened? Absolem please." She asked nicely.

"Chessur, the oraculum please. It will be better to show you. " Absolem said, motioning to the bench where the oraculum now lay. Chessur unrolled it across the bench. "Show her the Excellus Day." Absolem commanded of the scroll. Alice kneeled down beside the bench to watch the story unfold before her eyes. The sketch began to appear, showing an ornately filigreed mirror in bare room with large windows facing a city to the south.

"The looking glass in my old room!" She exclaimed, recognizing the mirror. A figure appeared beside it, the figure of a man. "But who is that?" She said.

"His is called Dr. Roux. "

"I know that name…" Alice whispered. She could hear Margret's voice clearly in her memory, begging her to see him. He was the best in the country, maybe the world. Best doctor for madness. "He bought our house." Alice said, mostly to herself. She watched as the figure pressed his hand to the looking glass mirror… and as it went straight through with the rest of him soon following

"Impossible!" Alice shouted. "The glass broke! It would not let me through!"

"One door replaces another, as long as the frame remains." Absolem puffed.

"Underland felt it Time for you to Return." Chessur said, "It's not Underland's fault you weren't there." He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear with his tail.

"But that was years ago! After I …left for China." She said.

"Left, love? Or ran away." Chessur purred.

"Never mind that." Absolem said. "Move along to Skrillex Day." He commanded. The oraculum faded from picture to picture rapidly, showing Alice the Doctor's progression in Underland. It began with him talking to the Queen and some of her royal court. Quickly the pictures progressed to him speaking from the balcony of the palace to a crowd of people and creatures alike – a crowd that grew and grew until what seemed like the entirety of Underland's citizens were there, spellbound, watching him with rapt attention. All the faces of her dear one's filtered through the assembly. The Tweedles, the Dodo, Nivens, and even her dear Hatter. She watched in horror as slowly the faces she loved began to change… began to become human, normal.

"How can this be?" She asked Absolem, tears stinging her eyes. "He came from my world! How could he possibly possess such magic?"

"Words are powerful creatures, Alice." He said. "Some say they even hold the power of life and death."

"But why are you two not affected?" she asked again.

"No one makes up a cat's mind but a cat. Especially the vanishing kind, for our minds are much more difficult to pin down." Chess said proudly, rolling upside down and flickering his stripes in and out.

"Do you really need to ask?" Absolem puffed.

"What about the future? What does the oraculum say?" Absolem motioned towards the oraculum with one tiny leg. Alice looked back and saw-

Nothing. A blank scroll with worn edges. "I… I don't understand." She said, tentatively running her fingers over the paper.

"Our future became entirely uncertain the day he stepped through the looking glass, rather than you." Chessur answered. "It would seem our champion is needed once again."

Alice sat back on her heels and closed her eyes, silent, listening to the soft sounds of the water drops hitting the leaves around them.

Suddenly she lashed out, swiping her hand violently across the bench, sending the oraculum with its horrible blank pages rattling across the silvery marble floor.

"NO!" She bellowed, splaying her hands across the lavender cushion as if to stop the world from spinning. "Absolutely not! After I've been waiting so long!" She pounded her fist "This just isn't fair!" Alice laid her forehead on the cushion and sobbed alligator tears interrupted by great hiccups. "I'm so very tired of being the one in shining armor…" She whispered once her tears subsided. "When shall I be the one rescued?"

"Are you quite finished?" Absolem said sharply after a few moments.

"I know, I know - nothing was ever solved with tears." Alice mumbled into the cushion.

"Contrarily, they did bring you here." Chessur said before disappearing altogether.

"What does that mean." She asked, rubbing her puffy eyes.

Absolem fluttered above her. "This willow grove was created by you, Alice. That is the only reason the doctor's logic has not touched it, because it belongs to you." Absolem floated out and caught a droplet on his foot. "These trees weep your own tears - the many tears you shed for Underland."

After reflecting one this for a few moments, Alice heaved a heavy, burdensome sigh with her head in her hands. "What must I do?"

"You must make them remember. Bring them out of their sanity and back into madness. Begin with the Hatter, Alice. He wants to remember you, in fact I think he has already begun to do so."

"Very well." Alice sniffed.

"Chessur will resume his disguise to assist you." There was a whoosh of noise, the sound of the cat returning. "And it appears you will have even more help." Absolem looked behind Alice where the grinning cat appeared - with the collar of a certain mouse in his jaws.

"Mally! The real one!" Alice said, perking up. The mouse squirmed her way from Chessur's grip and whipped her little hatpin sword out towards him.

"Chess! That was completely uncalled for!"

"You are the one who called me a nuisance." Chess pouted, turning his tail up at the dormouse.

"Mally how did you get here?" Alice said, giving the brave little mouse a finger to shake. "I'm so glad to see you."

"I followed you here. I was so suspicious of you! When I came through the hedges suddenly I was back to myself." She patted her mousey little tummy and ran her paws over her ears. "It's so good to be me again!"

"Mallympkins." Absolem said, commanding her attention. "You remember being human?"

"Of course. I was still me, after all, only not me." She sat on the edge of the cushion, dangling her paws off the edge. "I couldn't remember anything before the doctor came, but it did not really seem to matter at the time. My mind was so clear but yet so foggy all at once. I felt like I was wearing someone else's skin."

"It is good to know you can be you again." Alice smiled. Mally patted her hand with her tiny paw.

"It is good to know the Right Alice is here." She smiled, but it faltered. "Especially with the doctor returning tomorrow."

"That's right." Alice stood up, her muchness returning. "What should I do about the doctor?" She asked Absolem, who was smoking again.

"Better to get the hatter to remember before he arrives." Alice frowned. "Perhaps this will help." He pointed the tip of his tiny pipe back towards the bench, where a parcel lined in fine blue papers appeared and a silver hatbox alongside it. Alice unwrapped the parcel gently.

"I remember this dress…" Alice whispered softly as she pulled the finery from the papers: A familiar Alice-blue strapless dress trimmed with black and silver ribbons and accented by a lovely flower at the breast. "I thought I grew out of it that day?"

"Tis a new one the Hatter made for you when you return." Mally said tenderly. Indeed, this dress was much more fine. Alice held it tight against her chest.

"And slippers, Ms Alice." Came a quiet voice from the entrance of the gazebo. A silver lady slipper flower peeked around the corner at her. "Please, let us help as well." The flower extended two lovely buds towards her. As she took them, they turned into true lady's slippers made of the finest silk Alice had ever touched, with ribbons to lace up her ankle.

"They are exquisite." Alice thanked them.

"And the hatbox?" Chess said, appearing on top of it, kneading the lid with his paws. Exhaustion of the emotions was beginning to creep up on Alice in stinging tears at the corners of her eyes. She folded the dress and slippers into the parcel.

"I think I'll wait, Chess." She said quietly, strain edging into her voice.

"You'd best be on your way, all of you." Absolem ordered, and Alice gathered up her parcels and placed Mally on top of the hatbox.

"It's not quite as wonderful as going by hat." Alice smiled wistfully down at her friend, who sat on the edge of the box, one hand holding on to the ribbons that Alice carried it by.

"It'll do just fine." Mally said, returning the smile.

"Chess?" Alice said, noticing the cat was still much himself, or as much himself as only eyes and a grin could be.

"It is so _very_ dreary being contained in one solid form." He sighed, his grin faltering.

"Chessur." Absolem warned.

"Oh… very well." He materialized at Alice's feet, Luna once more, his little gold bell tinkling.

"Why the collar and bell, Chess?" Alice inquired.

"We are at the palace my dear, I wanted to look my very best." He simpered. Mally rolled her eyes and Alice giggled.

"Off with all of you now." Absolem shooed, fluttering around Alice's head. "And keep your head about you, silly girl." He warned. "We need to at least have the Hatter back to himself before the doctor arrives." Alice nodded with resolve and pushed her way back through the hedge maze.

Alice, Mally and the sordidly solid Chess slept soundly in her four-chess-peice-poster bed when they returned, exhausted and nervous for the day ahead. After they woke and took breakfast in her room, Alice dressed herself for the day ahead.

"You're not wearing the dress Hatter made you?" Mally, who was perched on a silver box of powder on the vanity, asked when Alice stepped from behind the dressing screen wearing a low cut, dove grey walking gown - minus the stockings and corset, naturally.

"I feel as though I should save it for the ball tonight. Hatter made it so exquisite it seems a bit much for an ordinary everyday dress. Besides, this dress has perfect Mally sized pockets." Alice said simply. Looking into the mirror, she pulled her heavy curls back loosely at the nape of her neck, a few errant strands coming free and insisting on curling around her face. Alice studied her reflection in the glass, smoothing her hands over her cheeks, pulling at the corners of her mouth and eyes. "Oh Mally." She whispered. "It has been such a long time. What if the Hatter doesn't… what if I'm the only one…" Here she paused, searching desperately for the right words. Finally she looked right at Mally with shining eyes. "Tell me Mally, did he think of me, as I thought of him?" There was a hint of desperation in her voice.

"Depends." Mally said plainly. "How did you think of him?"

Alice's brown eyes took on a faraway look as she spoke. "With every fiber of my being at all times and all hours and all days for the past thirteen years. There were lovers, but never love, for my heart was not affected by the Jabberwock's blood; it did not return to Upperland with the rest of me, but remained firmly planted in the breast pocket of a madman here." The dormouse placed her paw on Alice's hand.

"I'd say that's about right." She patted her hand.

Alice stood in front of the vanity and counted to three. "Right." She said aloud, straightening her shoulders and standing tall, mustering her muchness. She reached down and scooped up Mally, slipping her into her right pocket. The little mouse peeked over the edge.

"Let's go get our Hatter back."


	4. Chapter 4

Alice found Tarrant in his royal haberdashery, as directed by McTwisp. She rapped lightly on the giant oak door upon which was carved an ornate top hat. After waiting a moment for an answer, Alice gingerly pushed it open.

"Hullo?" She called. "Mr. Hightopp?"

"Yes!" Came a voice from behind a stack of fabrics. "I am here!" Alice looked around the large room. It was painfully organized, rows of hat blocks, aisles of trimmings, stacks of fabrics all color coordinated. Alice sighed at the colors - white, salmon, grey, black, tan, lackluster silver and not-at-all-Alice blue.

"It's Alice Kingsley!" Alice called and her response came as a crash from behind the rows of fabric; running back there she found Tarrant covered in hatboxes and dusted with black feathers.

"Goodness!" Alice said.

"I'm fine, I'm fine." He said, pushing aside the empty hatboxes and springing to his feet. "You startl'ed me tha's all." He was quite flustered, his brogue slipping out a bit more than usual. He brushed feathers from his leather apron front and starched white sleeves but neglected to attend to the soft black feathers clinging in his hair. Alice giggled, despite herself. He gave her a questioning look with his brown eyes.

"You resemble a raven." She said, reaching up and picking the feathers from his notably hatless head. He caught her glance and held it with curious eyes.

"A raven?" He said, cocking his head slightly to the side. Alice felt her heart beat faster in her chest.

"Yes... quite raven-like." She said, taking a feather gently off his neck near his ear. Her fingers just brushed against his skin and she felt him shiver in response to her touch.

"Well… yes. Indeed." He fidgeted with his apron tie, searching for words. "That dress does not suit you in the least." He said finally, looking her once over. Alice frowned, quite caught off guard.

"Sorry?" She said. Tarrant blinked and colored slightly.

"Forgive me, that is to say, that color does not suit you. Grey." He moved out of the mess he created and led her to a row of fabrics, gesturing to them. "Blues and silvers are a more appropriate match, I should think." He smiled at her then, a broad and beamish smile that brought his face to life. Alice felt herself wanting to lean into him, to wrap her arms around his neck, wanting to scream, "It's me Hatter! It's your Alice!"

However,

"Do you think so?"

- was all she said before the unwarranted words tumbled out. He nodded vigorously.

"Well then Ms Kingsley, to what do I owe the honor of this visit? Shall I call for some tea?" He asked.

"That would be lovely." Alice replied and Tarrant pulled the string that rang the bell in the kitchen. "I was just curious about hatting." She said nonchalantly, running her hand over a bolt of fabric. "I do love hats." He brightened at that and took her arm, leading her to his workbench where several hats in progress were perched upon hat blocks. A number of metal thimbles lie unattended on the workbench and Alice absently picked one up, rolling it between her thumb and forefinger, the little bits of metal poking at her skin.

"Lovely. The hats, I mean." Alice commented, and so they were, though not as grand as the hats she had seen him create in the past.

"Thank you." Tarrant said, his eyes fixated on the thimble rolling between Alice's slender fingers. "Though… can you keep a secret?" He lowered his voice, and Alice nodded. "I _dream_ of hats in color. Loud colors, disreputable colors…." He confided, glancing up at her, expecting her to be thoroughly scandalized. Her eyes were focused on his own hands, more accurately his fingertips, which were pressed down against the workbench. "So many colors." Tarrant's voice turned wistful. "I should very much like to make a purple hat, though I cannot seem to find purple material, no matter where I look…" His breath caught in his throat as Alice lightly touched his hand with her own, sliding two fingers down his and taking it up. Tarrant swallowed hard. "Do you remember the color purple?" He managed to say. Alice nodded again, bringing his hand up and sliding one of the thimbles over the end of his finger. "I feared I had only dreamed it. I question then... where did it go? Is it possible for a color to go extinct?"

"Perhaps it has only been misplaced." She offered, tilting her head and raising an eyebrow just so, her brown eyes never leaving his hands. Taking the other, she slipped a thimble over his thumb. "Do you recall where you last saw it?"

Tarrant felt himself drawing nearer to Alice, his brown eyes focused on her pursed lips. "I believe… I believe it was… on your lips." He whispered uncertainly, his high brow knitting into a deep frown. Her eyes flashed and met his, hopeful. Quickly he pulled back. "Though that is absurd. Is it not?" He said, even more uncertain. "And highly inappropriate." He chided himself.

"Mr. Hightopp… " Alice began.

"Tarrant, if you please." He interjected.

"Tarrant." Alice smiled.

"Or …Hatter perhaps?" He smiled as Alice lost hers. The thought of calling this man, this handsome, charming, _ordinary _man before her "_Hatter"…._

"_You are not my Hatter_." She disagreed sternly without giving thought to her words, dropping his hand that she still held. Mally poked her hard from inside her pocket and Tarrant appeared quite shocked and stung though his demeanor quickly turned to reservation.

"And what sort of man is _your_ hatter, Ms. Kingsley?" He asked, his gaze unwavering.

"He _was," _Alice emphasized the word "the best sort of man. The mad and wonderful sort who wore his heart on his peacock blue sleeve." She turned her nose up at him.

"And in his pursuits?" Tarrant very nearly growled.

"Passionate." Alice countered. He grasped her arm with his hand, pulling her slightly more towards him.

"An' in 'is passions?" His brown eyes flickered with green as they bore into hers. Alice felt a fire kindle in her stomach at the sight of those unworldly green eyes.

"I'm sure I wouldn't know." She rebutted, nose in the air, trying to ignore the flame now burning within her. Silence pressed in around them with a terrible, heavy weight – a weight finally lifted by the arrival of the tea service. Tarrant released Alice as the dainty little scullery maid entered, her large doe eyes flashing with curiosity.

"Is there anything else I can do for you sir?" She simpered to Tarrant, hoping to catch another tidbit to gossip with the other maids about.

"No Sybilia, that is all." He dismissed her without even casting a glace in her direction, his eyes never leaving Alice, though the glow within them dampened. Sybilia nearly skipped out the door in her haste. Tarrant finally tore his eyes from Alice to attend to the tea, motioning for her to take a seat at his workbench.

Alice caught sight of Mally glaring at her from her pocket and she made a face at the little mouse, mouthing "FINE!"

"Tarrant." Alice said sweetly, trying to dismiss the tension between them and begin conversations anew. "Wherever is dear Thackery? I remember you always took tea together and I have not seen him…" Alice's voice drifted off when she noticed the pained look etching across Tarrant's features.

"Thackery is… ill." He finally settled on saying, handing Alice her teacup. She felt Mally squirm in her pocket. Alice pressed her hand to her chest, concern written on her face.

"Oh dear I hope it is not serious!" She exclaimed. Tarrant fidgeted with his tea, avoiding her gaze. "Tarrant?" She pressed, "What is his ailment? Is it severe?"

Tarrant shifted in his seat and finally met her gaze. "Well… Old Thackery is quite mad, you see. He is here… in the castle."

"He is here? I should very much like to see him." Alice said.

Tarrant pulled absently at his apron and took a sip of his tea. "I don't think that is a very good idea. Thackery is …well he's best left to his own. The Doctor says it's best you know, for his own safety!" Tarrant's voice raised a bit, as though he were trying to convince his own self as much as Alice. "He is doing everything he can for the old chap but… his madness is quite serious."

"I hardly think of Thackery as anything dangerous." Alice said firmly. "Perhaps seeing an old acquaintance will be of some help!"

"I… I don't think-"

"Tarrant, if you do not take me to him, I shall find my way on my own."

"If you insist."

"I do."

A single wooden chair sat in the center of a large, white marble room marked with only one high window that let the sunlight filter in, casting a single beam of light into the murkiness. Upon the chair sat a figure, humped and slouched as though deflated of life. Alice's heart lumped up in her chest – the sadness was nearly a tangible feeling in the air, hung like a heavy veil. She drew closer to the figure who was sitting with it's back to her. Tarrant stayed behind, near the door. Thin, mottled grey hair covered his head and grew around his rather large, high set ears in fine wisps. Mally peeped from Alice's pocket. Alice crouched down next to the figure, bringing her to his level. His liver spotted hands were in his lap, and she noticed a wooden spoon clutched tightly in one, which she covered with her own.

"Thackery?" She said, her voice little more than a whisper. He stirred in his seat and slowly, slowly lifted his face to hers. Unnaturally large, golden eyes meet her brown ones, studying them. His nose was long and cooked, and his thin mouth turned up into a crooked grin, revealing crooked teeth. He was very much an old man, and very much an old march hare all the same.

"Alice!" He chirped. "THE Alice!" He chirped again. She nodded, smiling but fighting back tears. "You're late fer tea!" He said accusingly.

"I know Thackery, I'm dreadfully late. Can you ever forgive me?" She clutched his hand even tighter. "Tarrant is here as well." She nodded towards the door, and Tarrant stepped forward, nodding to his old friend.

"Thackery." He said, coming into the old man's view. As he did, the old hare's countenance darkened and he twitched in his chair.

"Imposter…" he growled. "Counterfeiter!" He yelled.

"Thackery!" Alice cried, grabbing his arm. Something hard and cold met her hands and to her horror she realized there was a heavy chain wrapped around Thackery's thin frame, binding him to the chair. "Charlatan!" He yelled ferociously, and Tarrant stepped away from him, dismayed. "Ye wicked guttlerscutt!"

"What have you done to him?!" Alice shouted accusingly, grasping Thackery's chains desperately. "You've locked him up like a criminal!"

The door behind them flew open and two husky orderlies dressed in white bustled in.

"I told you not to upset him." One mumbled at Alice, pushing her out of the way as Thackery continued to hurl insults. The other orderly took a glass bottle filled with an ominous yellow liquid from his coat pocket.

"Come now Mr. Thackery, be good and take your medicine." He shoved a large spoonful of thick liquid forcefully in Thackery's mouth.

"Stop that this instant!" Alice screamed, clawing at the orderly's coat and Mally holding on to the edge of her pocket, stabbed him hard in the leg with her pin-sword. The orderly yelped and shoved her away hard, causing her to stumble backwards.

"Alice!" Tarrant cried, grasping her arm and holding her back. She pulled against him, furious. The orderly forced Thackery's mouth closed until the old man was forced to swallow, then he finally let go. Thackery slumped down in his chair, utterly defeated.

"What is this devilry?" Alice said, jerking her arm from Tarrant's grasp and grabbing the bottle. It was made of heavy glass with a tan label pasted on:

**Dr. Roux's Elixir **

**For Clarity of Mind**

The orderly grabbed it back. "We all take the medicine, Missy." He jerked his thumb at Tarrant. "Get her out of here." Alice ran a gentle hand along Thackery's brow – he seemed to have fallen into a deep sleep.

"Don't worry old friend" She whispered in his ear. "We'll get you out of this, you'll see."

"Alice wait!" Tarrant ran to keep up with her. "What is happening here? Why did Thackery know you when he doesn't know anyone?"

"Do you _really _take that elixir every day?" She said without stopping.

"Everyone takes the elixir, it is good medicine for clarity of mind!" Tarrant recited. "Alice-"

"Don't _Alice _me, Tarrant! How could you let them do that to dear Thackery, your friend!" Tears glistened in her eyes now, threatening to fall. She stormed away from Tarrant but he jumped in front of her, grabbing her arms and stopping her.

"Alice please! I'm just trying to find some logic to all this!? How was it you knew the Tweedles yesterday? And why in Underland is there a mouse with a hat pin in your pocket?!"

Alice finally stopped resisting and glared at Tarrant icily. "Do you remember what Underland was like before the Doctor came? Do you remember anything at all?" She pushed his hands away from her. "He's drugging you all! Don't you see?" She poked him hard in the chest, "Don't take your medicine today, Mr. Hightopp and then tell me what sort of c_larity_ you are thus afforded." She stepped around him, leaving him cold-shouldered and confused in the great white hall.


End file.
